I met Bill McCully when I wandered into his Saturday morning yoga class at The Mindful Body earlier this year. I was wanting to go deeper with my practice and Bill's class spoke to me. It was a combination of asana, discussion, meditation, and chanting, and the space he held felt energetically alive. I started going regularly. Then, about two months ago, I signed up for a 10-week Personal Transformation workshop with him.

Truthfully, I wasn't really sure what to expect. I wasn't even sure what kind of personal transformation I was working out. Everyone else in the group seemed to have pretty specific things they wanted to address: relationships, work situations, or other life changes. I knew I was moving through something in my life, but wasn't sure exactly what it was.

In the first class, Bill, who is also an authentic movement teacher, asked us to each spend 20 minutes in the five various "spaces" in the room which were designated for drawing, writing, making sound, moving, and witnessing. I didn't understand what to do. The idea of just going to a corner of the room and singing or randomly moving in front of all of these new people completely freaked me out. But, at the end of the class, I felt a lot of walls come down. I understood that there were more ways in which I could be understanding things.

Since then, we've used a whole variety of methods to get at what's happening inside: We've had deep discussions about our lives, drawn pictures of our obstacles, and even done tarot cards. The idea, says Bill, from a yogic standpoint, is to not rely entirely on asana to give us all of the information we need, but instead to "open up all the different ways that we can self reflect".

Bill is a truly supportive teacher. He even offers free private sessions for his yoga students if they want to come and talk about their practice. I so enjoy sharing space with him, and he is always eager to meet new students—if you are interested in embarking on a deeper investigation into your practice, do check out his weekly class.